A helicopter carrying Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was forced to make an emergency landing in a mountainous region north of Tehran on Sunday.

The president’s website later said that no one was hurt.

Ahmadinejad had been on his way to a ceremony to inaugurate a road tunnel, the website said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was on his way to inaugurate a road tunnel when his helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing

‘The helicopter carrying Dr. Ahmadinejad and some executive officials accompanying him had an accident in the Alborz mountains this morning ... the pilot managed to land the helicopter with complete skill.

‘The president and his entourage are right now in perfect health.’

It is not known what caused the emergency landing.

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Iran's official news agency says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's helicopter experienced an unspecified ‘incident’ while touring a rural area, but the Iranian president's pilot landed the aircraft safely and the leader was unhurt.

The report by IRNA did not elaborate on the Sunday incident, which happened as Ahmadinejad was en route to a mountainous area in the north of the country to inaugurate a highway tunnel.

It said the pilot landed skillfully and neither the president nor his companions were hurt. The report said Ahmadinejad made it to the inauguration ceremony on time.

The pilot skillfully landed the helicopter in north Iran's Alborz Mountains

Ahmadinejad is reaching the end of his second and final term as president of Iran

Mr Ahmadinejad is coming to the end of his second term as Iranian president. There are fresh elections later this year, but Mr Ahmadinejad cannot stand again as Iranain rulers are barred from standing for presidential office three times.

Iranian police also arrested several people campaigning for a reformist candidate in this month's presidential election.

They picked up several supporters of candidate Hasan Rowhani after he delivered a speech according to his campaign manager, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh.

‘Some people were detained on the street after leaving the meeting,’ he told the semi-official Mehr news agency.

The June 14 election is to choose a replacement for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Authorities have already pared down the list of candidates to eight, disqualifying Ahmadinejad's top aide and a former president who could have galvanized opposition to the harsh clerical system.

It has been suggested that this is because Iran's rulers do not want to risk the widespread riots that broke out when Ahmadinejad was re-elected in 2009.

Iranian presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani, a former top nuclear negotiator gestures to his supporters, as he attends a rally, in Tehran

Supporters of presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani hold his posters, as one of them flashes a victory sign at the rally

Police have warned that candidates such as Rowhani will be limited in their election drive

On Sunday, after the arrests, a top official warned that Rowhani and others would be limited in their election drive.

‘Police will confront individuals who have counter-revolutionary behavior'" during campaigning, said the Iranian police chief, Gen. Ismail Moghadam. 'It is natural that police have carried out their tasks.’

It said the arrests were made after participants chanted slogans calling for the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi, an opposition leader and candidate in the disputed 2009 election, who has been under house arrest for more than two years.

Arrests were made after participants chanted slogans calling for the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi who has been under house arrest for more than two years

Female supporters of the Iranian presidential candidate. Nematzadeh, Rowhani's spokesman, said the two candidates have not met to discuss the possibility

A council of advisers to influential former reformist President Mohammad Khatami has urged Rowhani to unite with the other major reform-leaning candidate, Mohamed Reza Aref.

A statement on Khatami's personal website expressed hope that the two could form a ‘united front’ to field a single nominee.

Nematzadeh, Rowhani's spokesman, said the two candidates have not met to discuss the possibility.

Aref's star has been rising since his performance in a Friday debate of the eight candidates, restoring some energy to the reform movement after their main candidate, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was disqualified.